ARCHITECT/CLIENT RELATIONSHIP

building project. Upon establishing the projects goals,

there will be meetings with the governing agencies, such
as the planning department, the building department,
and architectural committees. The primary goal of the architectural team will be to initiate the preliminary planning and design phases.
In most architectural contract agreements, there are
provisions for the architect and the consulting engineers
to observe construction of the project during the building stage.

Construction Observation
When the construction firm has been selected and construction has commenced, the architect and consulting
engineers, according to their agreement in the contract,
observe the various phases of construction. These periodic observations generally correspond to the construction phases, such as during construction of the
foundation, framing, and so forth. Following their observations, the architect and consulting engineers provide
written reports to the client and contractor describing
their observations, along with any recommendations or
alterations they deem necessary for success of the project.

Figure 1.3 Schematic studies.

Preliminary Designs and Reviews

The next step in the architect/client relationship is the
architects presentation of the preliminary planning and
design for the project. After the clients initial review of
the projects planning and design, there may be some
revisions and alterations to the design. In this case, the
preliminary drawings are revised and presented again to
the client for his or her approval. After the approval of the
preliminary design by the client, the architect consults
and presents the preliminary drawings to the various governing agencies for their review and comments. Any revisions and alterations that may be required by any one
of the agencies are executed and again reviewed by the
client for his or her approval. In many offices the preliminary drawings are often used to estimate the initial
construction costs that will be submitted for review and
approval by the client.
In the preliminary planning and design phase, a conceptual site plan and floor plan of the building areas are
reviewed for the building orientation and the preservation
of existing landscaping elements such as trees, topography, and other site conditions. An example of a conceptual site and building plan is illustrated in Figure 1.3. The